The Guardians
by Reyaumbra
Summary: Ratchet discovers the few remaining Lombaxes in the dimension, and they have to band together to fight their biggest enemy yet..
1. DISCLAIMER!

DISCLAIMER!

I do not own anything in the Ratchet and Clank Universe. They belong to Insomniac Games.

I will SPECIFICALLY state if any of the characters/planets/etc are of my creation.

Just sayin'...


	2. Prologue

She clawed at her throat, desperately trying to get off the PC2 before it broke her neck.

**/A.N. /****_Prisoner's collar mark 2- a bit like the Dreadzone collar/_**

"One last chance, Lombax." Hissed a male voice. Shrouded in a black cloak, an enormous half cyborg creature had his hand tensed over a numbered dial, that was currently pointing at 6. "Where is he?"

Her long raggedy red fringe flopped over her muzzle, hiding the tears of hopelessness that flowed freely from her gold eyes.

"I…don't…know!" She sobbed. A low growl escaped the cyborg, and he twisted his fingers on the dial to 15 in rage. The girl screamed and writhed in pain, as the collar around her neck sent an agonizing electric shock through her body, and reduced in size, choking her. "I…DON'T..KNOW!" She repeated, screaming. He twisted the dial back towards 4.

"Well," He crooned, feeling no remorse for the sobbing young creature curled into a ball at his feet. "Seeing as you won't co-operate, you'll just have to stay here longer."

He aimed a hefty kick at the pitiful creature's ribs, and left the dark cell, his manical laughter still ringing in her ears.

"Oh Rebecca, Jozef, everyone... Where the hell are you?!"


	3. A Normal Day- Sort of

**/A.N WARNING! A CRACK IN TIME SPOILERS!/**

Clank waited outside his friend's workshop and knocked politely. The door was slightly open, but Clank knew better than to burst in on someone without express permission. No answer. If Clank could have rolled his eyes, he would have. There was no clock inside, and Ratchet had the tendency to get so wrapped up in his work that it would come as a huge surprise that it was six hours later than he had calculated.

Then again, the Lombax usually answered at least with an acknowledgement of his presence. Clank could not shake the feeling that something was wrong, and after the events of the Great Clock, he had become increasingly over protective of his friend. Clank shut his optics, doing his best to erase the memory of Alister's rage fuelled shot, his friend turning round, the bolt smashing into his armour, then he was falling…_falling…._

He shook his head and opened his optics again.

Torn between manners and his concern, he eventually chose the latter and pushed the door fully open.

"Ratchet?" He called out.

_Bang-crash._

"Ow!"

Clank winced. He must have fallen asleep while working on Aphelion's exhaust.

"Crap," Ratchet moaned softly to himself, rolling out from beneath the ship and rubbing his forehead. That would leave a mark.

He wiped his greasy hands on a nearby towel, and gave a quick glance around his workspace.

Clank did the same, different thoughts running through their heads.

Ratchet was noting in exasperation the exhaust which had fallen off again.

Clank shuddered at the mess. The little robot hated the clutter and grease of Ratchet's workshop. While he had to agree that his friend was a skilled mechanic, and it was usually safer for his friend to be working on Aphelion than out getting into trouble, Clank resented the trail of mess that his friend seemed to leave behind wherever he went, both metaphorically and literally.

"Yeah, Clank?" Ratchet set down the cloth.

Clank snapped back to his original train of process.

"Oh! I only wanted to check that you were alright."

"Oh…" Ratchet muttered confused.

Clank realised how silly he must have sounded, but was saved from making further conversation by frenzied knocking at the door.

Ratchet raised an eyebrow.

"Great," He muttered, pushing past Clank and into the hall, where he opened the door.

A Veldinian girl stood shaking. Her body was wrapped loosely in what may have been a dress, but was now burnt and ripped beyond recognition.

"Mister!" She panted. "You have to help us! Scary creatures have attacked my village and we're losing badly"

Ratchet's green eyes widened and a low growl emitted from the back of his throat.

_Scary creatures, huh? I've had plenty of them in my lifetime. Why can I never have a normal day where nothing drastic happens?!_

The little girls eyes were wide and pleading and Ratchet noticed that she had crossed her two fingers. He couldn't help but smile.

"Fine," He sighed. "Hang on..." Turning round and running back into his workshop, he grabbed his wrench, combustor, and belt which held various weapons and tools.

After a quick (breathless) explanation to Clank, he insisted on coming with him, and fastened himself to Ratchet's harness.

Ratchet ran out of the door, and the little girl smiled and clapped her hands with glee.

"Yay!" She squeaked happily. "I'll show you the way!" Surprisingly fast for someone only around nine, she sped over in what Ratchet supposed was the direction of her home.

She stopped suddenly, and pointed at the onslaught in front of them. Ratchet had never seen creatures like these before. They seemed to be half lizard with humanoid features, heavily armoured and carrying scarily heave guns.

"Ah, Lombax! I was wondering when you'd show up!" The biggest one smirked, stroking his gun lovingly.

Ratchet narrowed his eyes, tensing his hand on the handle of his OmniWrench.

"You knew I was coming?" He growled.

"But of course!" The lizard-guy sneered. "I knew the great Lombax hero wouldn't be able to resist a _poor little girl._ Too bad she was just a hologram from one of the most advanced systems in the galaxy!" Ratchet whipped around to face the little girl. It was true- she was now motionless, her expression blank. Her body had started to fade to static.

"It was a cleverly put together trap, that my Master spent months putting together. Now it's up to me and my fellow Lecers to execute it.."

Lecers? What sort of a species was that?! The group of Lecers let out a battle cry and descended on Ratchet like bees to honey, who double jumped into the air in a desperate attempt to avoid the line of fire. Bringing his wrench down onto the shoulders of one of the Lecers, he felt a shot miss his right ear by centimetres. He was outnumbered eight to one. Yay.

Everywhere he turned there seemed to be a Lecer facing him. His wrench seemed to bounce right off their thick armour.

Suddenly he felt strong hands grab him by the throat and lift him into the air. He gasped- he could barely breathe.

"You have a choice, Lombax. Are you going to come quietly?" The biggest one crooned.

Ratchet tried to pry the fingers from his throat to no avail.

"Never!" He choked.

"Alright then. Don't say we didn't give you the choice. Do it, boys."

Without warning, Ratchet felt something smash hard across the side of his head, and his world faded to black.


	4. Conversation in The Dark

** /A.N. Ah at last! We find out who the mystery lombax is.../ **

The Lombax's ears pricked of their own accord, and she was woken by the sound of a body being forcefully thrown across the floor.

Her yellow-gold eyes snapped open, to see a familiar looking creature skidding to a stop near the opposite wall. There was a metal thing attached to a sort of harness on its back.

Weird.

Curious, she shifted into a half-crouched position and scooted over so she was kneeling by the strange creature. Grabbing his left arm, she rolled him over so that he lay on his back.

She gasped, noting the fur, tail, the large ears. And oddest of all was the five digits on his hands. Looking down at her own, she tugged at her own tail and ears and counted the fingers on her hand. Was it possible that he was another Lombax? No it couldn't… could it?

She sat back on her heels and closed her eyes, a swirling tornado of thoughts rushing frantically around inside her head.

A soft clinking sound was heard.

"Why hello there, miss."

The girl opened her eyes and squeaked. Two green orbs seemed to be suspended about two feet from the ground- it took a few moments for her eyes to readjust to the darkness. Gradually the faint shape of a little robot holding out a hand assembled.

Confused, she gingerly grasped the little metal hand and shook it.

"Pleased to meet you," The robot's calm, mechanical voice was oddly comforting to listen to. There was a short silence, in which the she noticed embarrassed that her jaw had been hanging open the whole time.

"Is…is your friend a Lombax?" She asked bluntly, pointing to the other guy.

The little robot nodded. "So are you,"

The girl blinked in surprise. "But how? I thought they were all extinct!"

He turned to look at his friend and made a sound that sounded like a sigh.

"No," He paused. "Just in another dimension."

The girl stared at him as the news sank in, and remembered something.

"Hey, I forgot to ask you your name!" She smacked the palm of her hand onto her forehead, cursing herself for being so dumb.

He merely giggled good-naturedly.

"My name is XJ-0461, but you can call me Clank. And what, may I be permitted to ask is yours, miss?"

"Melody. Pleased to meet you," She smiled at him and gestured to the unconscious Lombax. "What about the sleepyhead?" She asked. Clank opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by a different, organic voice.

"Ratchet," Ratchet groaned lowly pushing himself into a sitting position. "The sleepyhead's name is Ratchet."

Melody couldn't help but smirk a little, quickly flipping her head so her fringe covered her mouth, however Ratchet noticed the gesture and rolled his eyes, used to the common reaction when he told people his 'name'.

Ratchet's eyes gradually adjusted to the darkness, and widened.

"Y-you're a Lombax!"

**/A.N. I changed this chapter (twice lol) I won't be using Lola, however I am still going to credit YellowDizzyLombax for being so nice in letting me borrow her in the first place XD And I also changed Clank's name, cause again, I mixed up the J and G /shot/**


	5. Messy Explanations

_**/A.N. Woot! Another chapter. This is real dialogue heavy but I hope it clears some things up ^^. Again I'll credit YellowDizzyLombax for reviewing these stories x/**_

Melody's large white ears drooped slightly in confusion.

"Yes, I am." She sniffed patronisingly.

"I…I've never met another Lombax before." Ratchet muttered, green eyes still wide. "Well apart from Angela and Alister…" He added quietly.

Intrigued, Melody accidentally flicked the other with her tail.

Ratchet looked down in shock at the appendage, so similar to his own.

"Hang on, how come you have a tail?"

_Okay now I'm _really _confused…_

She frowned slightly. "All Lombaxes have tails, numbskull."

"Angela didn't have one…"

Clank narrowed one optic and drastically widened the other, his equivalent of raising an eyebrow. He said nothing, but Ratchet could tell he was listening to every word. He opened his 'mouth' to speak, ready to bombard Melody with a few questions of his own.

"How did you come here?"

The white Lombax leaned back into a more comfortable position.

"Well, if you want the details, I am the from Planet Nuova in the Vita Galaxy. I'm training to be a Preatorian Guard. I recently qualified to the lowest rank, and as my first mission I was sent with a team of higher ranked guards and scientists to see if the Polaris Galaxy was safe to return to. The team consisted of me (duh), Jozef Milessken, Pippin Adimen, Amelia Gefährlich, Rory Sparx and my friend Kira.

Jozef, Amelia and Rory are all trained guards, a much higher rank than I am. Prof. Pippin Adimen and Kira work at the S.C.A.L.R (the SecondCenter for Advanced Lombax Research). Kira helped Prof. Adimen open some sort of dimensional wormhole onto Fastoon. We were patrolling the area, occasionally blowing up some nanophytes (Kira of course was being the complete geek she is and taking notes)."  
Ratchet raised an eyebrow and grinned.

"Sounds a little like Clank,"

The robot glared half-heartedly at him, still absorbed in the female Lombax's words.

"Anyhoo, to put a long story short, I wandered off cause… well. I haven't been on Fastoon since I was this high," She smirked and gestured about Clank's height, which earned her an exasperated expression from him. "And I got jumped by this group of freaky lizard dudes. Haven't the foggiest where they came from. Next thing I knew, I was here being tortured by the ugliest one, some twisted shit called Deuteron."

She took a couple of deep breaths before finishing off her story. "And so, I've been here about a week waiting for Kira to drag her lazy arse down here to save me. Deuteron's been asking me where the others are, but I haven't a clue. We just gotta wait." She grinned and stretched.

Ratchet's jaw hung open, and his eyes were stretched wide.

He stayed like that for some time.


	6. Hacker

_**/A.N. I deliberately wanted this to be a short-ish chapter XD They will get longer, I promise./**_

Kira jumped as a comm-link opened on the screen of the computer in front of her. Without a greeting or an unneeded introduction, a frantic voice called out, "Have you found my daughter yet?" The voice belonged to Ezio Galassia, Ambassador for Planet Nuova and… Melody's father. The link kept cutting in an out, but she could hardly blame it. They were in different dimensions after all.

The female Lombax nodded, long ears bobbing.

"No Mr Galassia, but we're getting closer," She answered after a pause. Ezio looked crestfallen.

"Please….please find her. I won't loose her. Not like I lost Rayna." The screen cut to black.

"Comm-link terminated," the computer's mechanical voice told her quietly.

Kira sighed.

_Ugh. I really need to start taking breaks. _She thought to herself with an inward groan after dragging her bleary eyes from the computer screen.

"Y'alright?" A gruff but kind-sounding voice that she recognised to be General Jozef Millessken, broke the silence and she felt large, gentle hands come to a rest on her shoulders.

Kira turned around and flashed the elder a weary smile. The female Lombax put her head in her hands and rubbed at the bridge of her nose.

"Yeah, but staring at numbers for hours and trying to override the defence codes of a heavily armed warship is hard work," She grinned. "My brain hurts,"

Jozef chuckled. "Mine would too," He shook his head and sighed in exasperation. "Melody sure does get herself into scrapes, doesn't she? Y'know I could have sworn that _she _was the ol' Sargeant's daughter." His face fell when he felt the younger stiffen. Kira's ears drooped slightly and she blinked away a few tears.

_Yeah, well, she's not._ She thought bitterly, before shaking her head free of the thoughts. Instead she bit back a sharp retort and forced herself to change the subject.

"Anyway, I think I've figured out the basic pattern. I should be able to tap into the security system by tomorrow."

Jozef shook his head. "No, you need a break my girl. Or at least a coffee." She shook her head.

"Nah it's alright. 'M not tired.."

The grizzled, ginger-furred Lombax raised an eyebrow disbelievingly.

"I don't care, Melody will still be on the ship in the m-" A soft snore cut him mid-sentence.

Kira was leaning against her arm, shoulders hunched. The scruffy tufts of 'hair' stood out around her face, making her look comically like a dandelion.

Jozef laughed quietly. He turned, and being as careful as he could, dimmed the lights and closed the door with a slight 'thunk'ing sound.


	7. Overriden

**_/A.N. Woooaaahhh. 10 reviews? In ONE DAY?! XD Thanks guys x/_**

"Yes! YEEEESS!" Kira whooped in delight and punched the air. "I DID IT! THE SHIELDS ARE DOWN!"

Rory, Amelia and Jozef skittered over to the computer. Sure enough, 'Defence Shield Termination Password: Accepted!' was written across the screen in bold green letters.

"Well done Kira!" Amelia grinned, slapping her on the back.

Rory shook his head. "Good lord, bringing Melody caused more trouble than it solved…"

Jozef ignored Rory's remark. "Everyone to the hangar. Use your assigned ship." They didn't need to be told twice. Amelia and Rory obediently ran in the direction of the hangar. Kira went to make after them, but found a muscular arm blocking her way.

"Jozef, what the hell!" She growled.

He merely sighed. "Kira, you are not trained to fight. You are trained to _think._"

"I received the basic fight training! I'm just as competent as everyone else here!" To prove her point, she drew her wrench from its fastening bolt on the belt around her waist and twirled it slightly. "..Plus I have my combustor and razor claws," She added as an afterthought, indicating to the small gun, also on her belt, and the small blue chip on her right glove.

"Kira, _no._"

She glared at him and looked up at him defiantly.

**_/A.N. Kira's only 5"2, and Jozef is 6"6- a height rival for Qwark XD She is taller than Ratchet, but only by an inch or so. And that might have something to do with her odd fur. It's really tufty, especially around the back of her head and the tips of her ears and tail. The added fluff adds an extra inch or so to her height. In reality she is only slightly taller than Ratchet. The difference is very slight./_**

"Please?" She said quietly.

He sighed. "I'm sorry, Kira. Anyway, you need to stay behind with Prof. Adimen and guard the ship."

Kira sighed, ears and tail drooping. She shuffled doggedly to the cockpit.

"_I do not need guarding," _'Keltaeni's mechanical voice rang out indignantly when Kira has left, making Jozef jump. _"I agree with Kira. It is her friend that needs to be saved and it is her who has worked the hardest to find her again."_

"Keltaeni, she's just a kid!" Jozef argued.

_"She is 23 years old, Jozef. Old enough to make her own decisions."_

"Please, Keltaeni! She has barely any fighting training, and I can't have my eyes on her the whole time!"  
There was a pause before Keltaeni answered. "_Please refer to my last completed sentence,"_

Jozef sighed, defeated. "I suppose you are right," He went to go and find the girl, before a thought struck him and he turned back around. "Hey, didn't she just hear everything we just said?"

Keltaeni laughed. _"No, do not worry, Jozef. I made sure I only broadcasted to this room."_

Running to the hangar, the ginger Lombax reluctantly thanked the ship and opened a comm-link, talking as he ran..

"Kira?"

"Yes?"

"I…I've changed my mind. Keltaeni is going to go on auto-pilot and orbit a safe distance from the warship. I'll meet you in the hangar." He muttered. Kira's eyes widened and she thanked him gratefully. Jozef shut the link with a sigh and closed his ship.

Kira put on the armor as she went; chest and back plates, shin guards, wrist guards, the whole shebang. Never having to fight often, her armor was a very basic version of the Holoflux armour, which she had modified to have a built in O2 function so she wouldn't have to take off her helmet when swimming/in space. She decided to swap her grubby brown work boots for her hoverboots (making sure they were deactivated so she didn't shoot off the edge of the ship when she leaned forward).

Kira found her old ship, _Vetessa_, in the corner, hovering about twelve centicubits above the ground. She hopped into the pilot seat and started the ignition system.

"Vetessa, do you have the co-ordinates for the warship?"

"Yes, Kira. Jozef sent them to me a few minutes ago."

"Are the ion-cannons activated?"

"Yes."

"Seeker missiles?"

"_Yes._ Kira you are acting as if I were created yesterday. Now, this may be your first proper assault, but please remember that I have lost count of the amount of battles I have fought in."

Kira grinned sheepishly. "Sorry, I'm just excited, t'sall."  
Vetessa responded with a light laugh. "I thought as much. Now, please don't crash me into an asteroid. It hurts, you know."

_**/A.N. Meep :D Yay, another chapter finished *falls off chair*. Told ya this would be longer. :3/**_


	8. Tracking Devices are SO outdated

The path to the warship was suspiciously clear of enemy fighter ships. Sure there was a turret or two, but Vetessa's fusion cannons made quick work of them.

"Kira? Do you copy?"

Rory Sparx's voice crackled over the comm-unit.

"I copy, Sparx." The female Lombax answered, pressing a green button which opened the call in both ships.

"I just received a transmission from Adimen! He's found a second entrance used to deploy fighters near the back. D'ya think you can locate it and enter that way?"

Kira nodded…

..Then remembered that they were on radio call and he couldn't see her.

"Yeah. Sparx, tell the others to keep their comm-links open."

"Affirmative. Sparx out,"

There was silence for a few minutes as Kira skilfully guided Vetessa around the asteroid maze.

"Secondary entrance point located. Landing flaps and gravometric stabilisers online. Preparing for touchdown on warship hangar."

The Lombax gripped the steering mechanisms and pushed them downwards, sending Vetessa's pointed hull into a nose dive.

At the last second, she pulled the controls up again and pressed various buttons on the dashboard. Vetessa glided to a halt on the secondary docking bay.

Kira activated her helmet and leaped out of the pilot's seat, shaking with excitement at her first proper assault mission. She unhooked her wrench from her belt and held it in front of her.

"This place stinks of a trap," she muttered to herself. No guards were waiting in the dark grey corridors. No alarms started.

The silence was unnerving.

Kira checked that there was no-one behind the next corner before pressing a button on a metal band around her left wrist. A holo-map materialised in front of her.

A mini-query appeared.

_Please enter your identification number._

98831.

_You have been identified as 'Kira Fortis, family unknown._

_Age: 23_

_Status: Current_

She rolled her eyes. Duh.

_Now select life form from the following. Organic, Robotic or Other._

Kira selected 'organic'.

_You have selected 'organic'. Please input the tracking number of said 'organic'._

She typed in 98467.

_Organic has been identified as Melody Gallassia, daughter of Ezio and Rayna Gallassia._

_Age: 24_

_Status: Current_

_Press screen for location._

Kira flicked one of her ears impatiently and pressed a finger against the holographic display.

A grey map took the place of the green query,

_You are here._

A blue flashing dot appeared, a few corridors away from the secondary hangar.

_Subject 98467 is located here._

A scarlet dot appeared somewhere in the middle of the winding grey lines.

"Okay," she whispered to herself, and opened another box on the screen. Again, words came up.

_Subject 98467 and 98831 have been identified as 'Lombaxes'. Attention! Other Lombax life forms have been located on this ship. Would you like to identify them?_

Yes. Yes she would. Kira growled. This stupid thing was gonna need some tinkering…

_Life forms have been identified as subject 65342 Jozef Millesken, 83421 Amelia Gefährlich, 89932 Roran 'Rory' Sparx-_

Kira breathed a sigh of relief and went to close the holo-map, but was cut short when a fourth name flashed up…

_99432 Unknown name 'Ratchet' Unknown surname._

Wait. There was another Lombax on the ship?

But… the only ones who had gone through the wormhole were Melody, Jozef, Sparx, Adimen, Gefährlich and herself. And all the Lombaxes had either died or been sent to Planet Nuova by the dimensionator.

She shook her head, trying to dispel all thoughts of the unknown Lombax.

The only thing that mattered now was finding Melody.

**_/A.N. Yaayyyyy 'nother chapter. By the way, in case you were wondering how the holo-map knew Ratchet's name, here's a short description of the backround info; In almost every galaxy there is a machine that outputs a sort of tracking wi-fi. There is one in Vitan, Polaris, Solana and Bogon. The range doesn't stretch across the galaxies, but the information does. The one in Polaris is in Axiom City. In Vitan, most of the surviving Lombaxes are rather paranoid about being attacked, so they have their name and tracking details inputted into their machine at quite a young age. In my headcanon, Ratchet really wasn't very old at all when Fastoon was attacked, so Kaden didn't have time to give his details. When Ratchet started work with the Galactic Rangers, Sasha found out about his lack of tracking details, grilled him on it and gave them to the machine in Solana. His surname and real name unknown, he is simply known as 'Ratchet' to the tracking machines._**

**_*Phew!* :) Please R&R x/_**


	9. Red Buttons are never good news

After a wrong turning or ten, Kira finally found what she hoped was the containment area. She checked her holo-map and was relieved to find that it was.

Suddenly she came to a fork, so she again checked the strange map hologrammed in front of her. The red dot that pinpointed Melody's position flashed faster when she moved towards the path on the right, so she chose that one.

Eventually, she came to a heavy iron door that was locked with a voice recognition speaker.

"Open the door." She said into the speaker.

"_No._" Came the simple, mechanical reply.

"Seriously? Open!"

"_No! You are not master Deuteron."_

"And?"

"_I will not open to any other than my master."_

Kira contemplated this for a moment. "You said won't, not 'can't'."

_"That doesn't change the fact that I won't open,"_

The Lombax sighed, an irritated hiss escaping her. "Look…..'lady'… I'm just trying to get my friend back."

"_Sucks to be you,"_

"Will it help your decision any if I tell you that I know the error code that will _permanently fry _your motherboard. This will render you completely offline and irreparable. So I think it would be really _really _helpful to both of us if you would just _open the damn door."_

The silence was brief.

"Y-yes..miss." The mech's response was quiet and stuttery. The door swung open.

Ratchet was suddenly woken by a loud creaking.

"Melody!" A voice came from the doorway.

"H-huh? Kira?!" The white Lombax stirred nearby him and leapt to her feet, but fell over again when the heavy weights around her ankles and wrists weighed her down. "Where the _hell_ have you been?"

Even in the dim light, Ratchet could tell that the figure's ears twitched crossly.

"Well that's a nice thank you," She muttered, amused. The other's voice was rather nice; it sounded a lot more welcoming than Melody's harsh gravelly bark. The girl moved to retrieve her combuster from her belt.

"What the hell?! Seriously? You're gonna shoot us?!" Ratchet yelped suddenly. It was one thing to shoot someone in battle, but it was another to shoot someone completely defenceless and chained to heavy weights. The other jumped, only just noticing him.

"I believe that is a little unnecessary, miss." Clank frowned.

"Hey, _you're _the mystery 'bax I've been wondering about!" She grinned for a split second. "And no, I'm gonna shoot the _chains _not you, you dipstick." She turned to Melody and shot a stream of bullets against the metal, which promptly melted apart from the heat and freed Melody's right arm from the bindings. She repeated this action on the left chain. She then moved onto Clank who was free from the chains in mere seconds.

The girl then motioned towards him. Ratchet couldn't help but flinch a little at the bullets coming in at such close quarters. Every one of his instincts told him to dodge. He fidgeted until the chains had broken. He ran his hands over the floor in the corner until they closed over something hard- his wrench.

"Hey, uh.." Ratchet heard a voice behind him and turned round. "Who are you anyways?"

He blinked. "Ratchet, and this is my buddy Clank," He turned round so the girl could see the little robot.

"Hello, miss!" Clank smiled shyly and waved.

"Aw! How sweet!" She smiled.

"And you?" Ratchet enquired.

"Oh right!" She grinned at him. "Kira Fortis, apprentice scientist at the S.C.A.L.R. Pleasure to meet you."

Melody was getting irritated. "Are you two lovebirds finished yet, or am I gonna have to wait 'til you're done smoochin'?"

Embarrassed, Ratchet and Kira jumped away from each other as if they had both been shocked by a tesla claw, much to Melody and Clank's amusement.

They made their way towards the door, Melody bringing up the rear.

"Melody, what are you doing?" Ratchet asked.

"Hiding," she mumbled.

"Where's your wrench?" He queried. She stood up straight, puffed out her chest and gave a sniff.

"Don't carry one. Think they're stupid."

Kira scoffed. "You mean you dropped it when you got kidnapped."

"….yes."

Kira rolled her eyes and tossed her the combuster on her belt. "Here, use that. I've got some other stuff,"

Melody nodded, and looked a lot more comfortable with the situation.

Kira turned to the others. "Now, make sure you're careful where you're standing. This 'Deuteron' dude must have laid something out for us. So be careful of anything that looks suspicious, cause you know it could be a…"

Melody ignored her and saw a red button on the wall. "Hey, what does this do?" And pushed it. Almost immediately, a high, pealing alarm began to wail and the walls flashed red.

"….trap."


	10. Cornered

Ratchet's sensitive ears picked up the distant thunder of feet getting louder and louder.

He muttered something obscene and tightened his grip on his wrench.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! RUUUN!" Melody shrieked in panic.

"Miss Melody, I believe it is a bit late to start running," Clank said helpfully as the shadows of the approaching Lecers began to flicker across the walls.

Thinking quickly, Ratchet unbuckled the harness around his chest and handed it to Kira. "Here, put that on. Clank can go with you,"

"But Ratchet-"

"No buts!"

Melody sniggered a little and leaned over to Kira's ear. "He said 'buts'…"

"Clank, they're gonna get beaten to a _pulp_ unless you go with them. I've lost count of the amount of times you've saved my furry ass by pointing out something behind me,"

"I suppose you are right…" Clank sighed and allowed Ratchet to lift him onto Kira's back, but he didn't look at all too happy about it.

Kira drew herself up to her full height (which Melody sniggered at- she was still only just over her shoulder) and nodded. "Ratchet, you take the right corridor. Me, Melody and Clank will take the left," She blinked and stepped a little closer to him. "You sure you'll be okay? There'll be three of us and only one of you."  
Ratchet shrugged with a smirk. "Nah, don't worry, I'll be fine." He moved a little further to the right and crouched, ready.

With a sigh, Kira made towards the left corridor, Melody beside her and Clank on her back. The shadows on the opposite wall began to darken, and in a few short seconds the first wave of guards attacked.

Ratchet retrieved a handful of tesla spikes from his manifestor. Dodging bullets that ricocheted against the walls, he tossed them into the cluster of robots, promptly electrocuting them.

The electricity took out some of the smaller robots, but the larger, more powerful ones had barely been affected by the shock.

About six Lecers rounded the corner, armed with long blades and guns. The guns were similar to that of a Galactic Ranger, the only difference being that the Ranger's guns were built into their arms, and the Lecers had them locked around their lower arms.

Feeling nostalgic, Ratchet manifested his heavily upgraded shock cannon and blasted the remaining robots. He hissed slightly as a chunk of shrapnel pierced his shoulder. Deuteron had been clever to remove all nearby nanotech.

_Damn it._ He pulled the chunk of metal from his arm and winced a little at the steady stream of blood. Ah well. He'd had worse.

Meanwhile on the other side of the wall, Melody, Kira and Clank weren't doing too badly for themselves.

Melody took out as many of the guards as she could with the old combustor. She was a pretty good aim, despite the weapon being, in her opinion _primitive._ Melody preferred things that 'made a mess and pretty lights'.

Kira picked off what ever was left with her wrench, slicing through the metallic armour with the sharpened tip and denting it with the flat end.

The main hangar had been a blur of plasma as shot after devastating shot was fired from each of the three Preatorian Wrenches, and guard after guard fell. The only problem was that they just seemed to keep _coming._

Past tense.

Jozef lowered his wrench in confusion. The heavily-armed Lecer guards were suddenly turning on their heels and running in what seemed to be the direction of the secondary hangar. For some reason, Jozef felt that this was trouble…

Wait.

Wasn't that….

Damn it.

He knew bringing Melody was a bad idea…

**_/A.N. The term 'Manifestor' belongs to Stephen Stryker. I am using it with his permission :) Go check him out, his stories are great .u./_**


	11. Backup

**_/A.N. I'm back, baby! Sorry for the lack of updates; my laptop finally died after serving me for 4 years :P However, I now have a replacement, so expect regular updates! By the way, if you haven't already, please read the last chapter, because I edited it so it is no longer an Author's Note, but a real chapter./_**

"There's too many!" Kira panicked, swinging her wrench at anything that came within reach. There didn't seem to be so many Lecer guards anymore as robotic ones; they must have either retreated or been knocked out.

"Look out!" Clank's warning came too late as she was suddenly hit in between the shoulder blades with a gun barrel. The impact sent her sprawling. The robot guard began to advance on her, stamping with a little more force than was necessary, obviously aiming for her legs.

With a quiet "Eep!" Of terror, Kira scrabbled back as far she could when- she hit the wall (Or rather Clank did). She couldn't go any further. The guard drew its arm back to charge the gun blast. The female Lombax squeezed her eyes shut, futilely raising an arm to shield herself from the inevitable. She vaguely heard a smash and her name being screamed.

_3….2…..1…_

The killing blow was never delivered. Gingerly, she opened her eyes.

Her potential 'murderer' was swaying violently, sparking from a well-aimed shot torn through the chest compartment. The guard fell, revealing Melody tightly gripping Kira's modified combustor, her face twisted in a mixture of panic and relief, if that was possible.

Kira's mouthed "Thank you!" was returned with a brief 'you're welcome' nod from her friend.

The robots drove them closer and closer together, until they were fighting more or less back to back.

"We're gonna lose, Ki!" The taller Lombax yelped over her shoulder.

Kira didn't answer for a moment.

"I hope Ratchet's okay.."

"I'm fine, thanks!" Kira jumped in spite of herself as he popped up behind them, grinning, casually tossing his omniwrench into a nearby guard.

He merely grinned harder at Melody and Kira's expressions as Jozef, Rory and Amelia careered around the corner, a blur of armour and fur.

"I brought backup!"


	12. Boom

**_/A.N. Hi! Another short chapter, sorry. I have a terrible attention span :P/_**

The fight seemed to progress a lot better now that there were more of them fighting. Melody was especially trained to fight, and despite her being the lowest ranked guard, she was still a fair fighter. Kira, on the other hand, was not. Yes, she had received basic fight training, but she had a rubbish aim, and preferred hand-to-hand combat, either martial arts or wrench-on-wrench. The only weapon she was remotely good at using was her razor claws, due to being short range. She did, however, use strategy.

"Ratchet, cover me!" Kira told him, before crouching down and activating the comm-chip in the metal wristband. She punched in the numbers needed to contact the other ships. _Dharion_ (Rory), _Betheska _(Jozef) and _Zenneth (_Amelia).

"C'mon guys!" She yelled over the din. "I've sent a message to the ships! Follow me to the secondary hangar!" She slammed her fist into the jaw of a robot to her left before continuing. The guard followed her through the winding mess of corridors.

"Ow!" She made a high squeaking noise as a strange white-light grazed her right arm, burning the area it touched and going numb. Ratchet, who was standing in front of her turned to ask her if she was alright, but he was shot in the back, then in the chest. He stumbled against the wall, panting heavily, pain evident in the shortness of his breaths.

"Shit!"

Kira realised that they had switched guns, as the normal blasters would have blown off the appendages that had been hit. She winced as another hit her tail, which also went limp.

The female Lombax staggered forward, switching her wrench to her left hand. The numbness had begun to die down a little, replacing it with a searing pain.

"Ratchet?" She tapped him gently on the shoulder with her wrench. "Are you okay?" He nodded, still gasping. A shriek of pain was heard as Melody took a blast to the leg.

There was a terrifying amount of the white energy stabbing through the air from the robot's arms, and soon every Lombax was holding at least one limp appendage or body part with their free hand.

"I see it!" She screamed over the din.

They reached the hangar and jumped into each of their ships. Melody flung herself into the nearest ship's passenger seat, which happened to be Jozef's.

"My ship didn't come with us!" Ratchet yelled as loudly as his battered abdomen would allow. Rory turned around and muttered to Kira.

"You saved him. He's not our problem."

She blinked at the blunt tone. Rory wasn't usually like this… Shaking her head, she gestured for Ratchet to follow her. Both Lombaxes climbed into Vetessa, Clank squashed between them.

Suddenly Ratchet had a bright idea. "Tell the other ships to activate their Terra-Thrusters at once!"

Kira opened her mouth to answer, looking puzzled, when _Vetessa_'s own cut over them.

"Why?"

"Just do it!"

_Vetessa_ must have sent some sort of internal-message to the other ships, as three seconds on the dot later intense heat blasted around the hangar, melting the robots that stood behind.

With a woop of success from Clank and Kira. Ratchet was concentrating on getting enough air into his lungs- his whole chest and lower back was numb- but he gave Kira a thumbs up and a grin. He noticed with a smirk, that Melody was giving the warship the middle finger, and mouthing something unrepeatable from the back of Jozef's ship;

"I cannot help but notice you are having trouble steering," Clank said quietly. Kira glanced at him. It was true- her dominant arm lay useless across her lap while her left gripped the controls.

"I'm fine," She lied. Clank gave her a knowing look. "I'm fine, really. We're nearly there anyw-"

_Thunk_.

"Kira! I said be careful!" The ship said, sounding cross.

* * *

As soon as _Vetessa _let Ratchet, Clank and Kira out, Ratchet was grabbed from behind by the collar by a snarling grey-furred Lombax.

"Who the hell are you?! Where did you come from?! What the hell were you doing there?!" Rory's spit sprayed Ratchet's face and he winced a little at the pressure around his neck, not helping his current, 'can'tbreath' situation.

"Rory!" Ratchet didn't recognize this voice, but guessed it to be the tall ginger female that he had been fighting alongside earlier. He heard a slap, then was dropped unexpectedly to the ground. He could make out Rory rubbing the side of his face, and the female looking furious.

"Can't you see he's hurt? And he's only a kid!" She stepped forward and put a hand on his shoulder, making him flinch. "It's alright, I won't hurt you. How old are you, sweetheart?"

Ratchet stiffened.

"Twenty three!"

Amelia's arm shot back. "Oh my Zoni, I'm sorry! You're just so small and..."

She decided to shut up.


	13. Sweet Promises

_**/A.N. ;U; I haven't edited this, cause it's late.../**_

Jozef nudged the short female.

"Kira, take this guy to Professor's room. He should have some nanotech. Try and squeeze some information out of him if you can." He said seriously. "I doubt he's an enemy, but..you never know..." With that he called the rest of the group, and left the room, supporting a limping Melody around the shoulders.

* * *

Kira twisted around to face the male, face burning and stomach fluttering for reasons she didn't quite understand.

"C'mon... Ratchet, was it?" She did her best to sound breezy and confident, but it ended up coming out as a strangled squeak.

"Yeah," The other replied. "You're Kira right?"

She nodded. "The one and onl-" Her eyes widened.

"What?"

"!"

"What?!"

She brought her working hand up and moved it towards him then back towards her.

"YEEEES! FINALLY I MEET SOMEONE MY HEIGHT I was pretty much the shortest adult on Nuova." She grinned and turned away, tufty fringe slipping over her muzzle and obscuring part of her face from view.

In the artificial lighting, Ratchet finally saw what she looked like. He knew what the others looked like, sure. _Especially _Rory...

But Kira had kind of blended in behind Melody's striking appearance.

As she led him through a couple of rooms, Ratchet absent mindedly stared at her.

Her fur was pale brown in color, with chocolate colored stripes on her ears, and two on her jawline. Her hair, he noticed, was less like Melody's and more like Angela's in in color style. It was the same color as the rest of her fur, with the occasional dark stripe near the bottom. Fluffy strands that had escaped her loose ponytail framed her face. She was rather short (and still his height, ha), and her holoflux armour clung to what little shape her skinny frame had. her emerald colored eyes glittered with good humor. Ratchet had to admit that her overall appearance was rather odd, but she seemed nicer than the others, and that was reason enough to like her.

* * *

"Well, we're here," she smiled, snapping Ratchet out of his thoughts. "Ladies first."

He rolled his eyes before stepping into the room. She gestured for him to sit down on a nearby worktable.

"The professor must be somewhere else in the ship," she mused, rummaging in one of the many cupboards for what Ratchet assumed was nanotech. "Probably getting a coffee or something."

He chuckled.

"You okay?" He added, seeing her strongly favoring her left arm.

"Hmm? Oh yes, I'm fine. It's starting to tingle now and I can move it a bit, which means it's getting better. Ah hah!" Kira pulled out a small orb of the luminous blue liquid from a small box.

She deactivated the armor encasing her arm, but struggled to break the orb without the use of her right arm. Ratchet hopped off of the table, wheezing slightly.

"Here," he smiled, and broke it for her. She smiled gratefully at him as he took her arm in one of his hands and poured the nanotech onto it. He moved his free hand up towards her shoulder, spreading the liquid. She felt the butterflies in her stomach get more er...violent. And she blushed hard, but relieved that she could now move her arm again, and that all the smaller cuts and bruises were more or less healed.

"Thank you,"

"No problem."

"Okay, your turn now."

She smashed the next orb against the table. She went bright red beneath her fur.

"Um... I think it'd work better if you took off your armor..." She cringed in embarrassment. Ratchet blinked, equally embarrassed but obliged, deactivating the upper half of his armor.

"Hold out your hands." He obeyed, and the girl poured some of the shimmering nanotech into his palms, which he then transferred to his chest. She then moved behind him, and he shivered as the cool liquid touched the skin beneath his fur, and he shivered as her gentle hands moved across his back.

"Sorry, did I hurt you?!" She gasped in horror, withdrawing her hands quickly.

"No, no, the nanotech is just cold that's all," he replied with a cringe.

Almost instantly, his back felt better, and he felt he could breath easier.

"Thank you, Kira."

Any left over nanotech disappeared into their fur or any cuts missed.

"So.." She said quietly. "How did you escape Tachyon? And how come we've gone so long without being under Cragmite fire?"

Ratchet shuffled a little. "Tachyon is no more..I...I killed him."

Her eyes widened. "Yousingle handedly killed the greatest threat in the history of the Lombaxes?! Dude that makes you a hero to practically _everyone!"_

"My friends helped too! Clank, Talwyn, Cronk and Zephyr helped a lot!" He blurted out.

"Still!"

There was a pause, before Ratchet changed the subject.

"...How did this all happen? I thought.. I thought you guys would never come back..."

"Us guys? You mean the Lombaxes?" Her left ear flicked, something Ratchet noticed she did whenever she was confused, angry or upset... "Why? Aren't there any others here?"

He shook his head sadly. "No...just me... I know my parents died during the attack on Fastoon, and well..there was two more left behind.. Angela Cross and Alister Azimuth.. but... I don't know where Angela is, and Alister is..." he trailed off, ears drooping.

She looked horrified. "Oh my god! You must have been so lonely! I mean..I know how you feel to a certain extent. I never knew my parents either.. but... the only one of your species?! My god.. I wish we'd known...I'm so sorry!" She garbled out.

Ratchet blinked. "Don't worry, you couldn't have done anything. I met a bunch of people. It's not the Lombaxes or you faul-" He was cut off as he looked down to find skinny arms wrapped tightly around him.

Kira was...hugging him...

It actually felt really nice...

Everything in his mind seemed to shut off, and he closed his eyes, completely unaware of anything other than the girl with her arms wrapped around him. He barely caught the soft whisper into the crook of his neck,

"_You'll never be lonely. Never again. I'll make sure of it..."_


End file.
